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South Dakota’s gross domestic product took a tumble last year when compared to the bounty of 2011, and officials and analysts are pointing to the worst drought in decades as the cause.

The news isn’t all bad. State officials say a preliminary estimate indicates that the GDP was up by 1.9 percent last year. But that rates as a disappointment when compared to the 8.8 percent jump in 2011.

Pat Costello, commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, said the 16 percent drop in the agricultural sector’s GDP took a toll on the overall number. Farmers in South Dakota and much of the nation struggled through last year’s dry conditions, the worst since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s.

The ag sector makes up about 10 percent of the state’s GDP, and that’s how the industry has such a strong hold on the total numbers, said Ralph Brown, an economist and professor emeritus at the University of South Dakota.

“The volatility of the ag sector is apparent,” Brown said Monday. “The state relies on a strong farm economy, so its losses can seep into non-farm sector growth.”

GDP statistics are released by the U.S. Commerce Department as a measure of comprehensive economic activity. GDP is the sum of all goods and services produced.

For the record, the state’s GDP hit $42.5 billion in 2012. By comparison, that number stood at $37.3 billion in 2008.

Nathan Lukkes, deputy commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, said the 2011 numbers for GDP were a tough act to follow.

“GDP is expected to vary year to year, and the state has had three consecutive years of growth,” Lukkes said. “When we look at the big picture, the state is moving in the right direction. We can’t expect a 7 or 8 percent increase every year.”

The agricultural sector definitely had the largest “collateral impact” on the state’s total, Lukkes said.

“As far as private industries are concerned, agriculture is ranked second,” Lukkes said. “Even when the financial, commercial and manufacturing sectors grow, a 16-percent hit to agriculture is felt throughout the state.”

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Evert Van der Sluis, head of agricultural economics at South Dakota State University, said that last year’s big drop in the ag sector doesn’t have to mean a drop in the state’s entire economy.

“The farming sector’s GDP fluctuates with the weather, gas prices, kinds of crops, a number of things, and it has for years,” Van der Sluis said. “We can’t just look at one year and judge our actions on one year. We have to keep this decrease of GDP in context, and not look at it as some major complication we have to fix immediately.”

Agriculture’s influence on the state’s economy shows why South Dakota needs to continue to diversify its economy, Lukkes said. One positive outcome from this year’s numbers is the state’s manufacturing sector, which posted the fifth-highest percent increase in the nation, he said.

Nationally, South Dakota is one of 49 states that recorded a jump in GDP, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — a branch of the Commerce Department.

But state and federal offices have conflicting percentages for the state’s GDP increase.

A report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows the state with a less robust increase than the governor’s report — .2 percent. An increase at one-fifth of a percent would be considered a flat growth rate, bureau economist Frank Baumgardner said.

“There are industries in South Dakota, like wholesale trade and durable-goods manufacturing, that are increasing,” Baumgardner said. “But the industry growth is being held back, and the statewide GDP rate is kept flat by other sectors that are showing negative growth.”

The difference of statistics shows the state’s economic status on a national level in differing positions. As the governor’s office reports that South Dakota holds the fifth-highest percent increase for manufacturing in the nation, the federal agency’s real GDP percentage show South Dakota ranked 20th.

The discrepancy is calculation-based. The governor’s office is using “nominal” dollars, which is money that actually is in the economy. Federal agencies such as the Bureau of Economic Analysis use “real” dollars, which adjusts for inflation. Van der Sluis said most economists prefer the real GDP statistics.

Lukkes said South Dakota has been using the nominal dollars figure since 2003. He is not sure why the nominal-dollars scale was implemented, but its continued use is “to provide a consistent measuring stick” for the current administration.